Policy on Anti Social Behavior - Essay Example

?Running head: COMMUNITY POLICING COMMUNITY POLICING POLICY ON ANTI SOCIAL BEHAVIOR of number, & section> ABSTRACT The Police is a body of persons employed by state for Law Enforcement, for the protection of property, people and to limit the unlawful activities. The powers used by the Police forces are legitimized by the Law. The police force is different from other military forces or other organizations involved in defense of the state. However, Law Enforcement includes the policing activity (Walker 1997). Policing includes group of activities in different situations but the main purpose of these activities includes maintenance of order (Neocleous 2004).The present perspective of police is to maintain democratic system, besides acting as a fighting force. Police policies and procedures provide the guideline for daily working. It assists in decision making of the Police department. Courts and public look to policies and procedures to see whether the actions of any officer are according to policies or not. So, during the making of policies it is taken in to consideration whether or not the policy is meeting the community requirement. Antisocial Behavior Policy Antisocial behavior causes misery to people who want to live with peace in the society. It includes serious violence and harassment. It is difficult to define anti social behavior precisely. The absence of any definition of antisocial behavior creates problem for the Police to tackle it because its power is unclear and solutions may be restricted to other agencies. According to Section 1 (1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Antisocial Behavior is acting in antisocial way that causes harassment, distress, alarm or nuisance to anyone. The anti social behavior includes: Nuisance neighbors Racist behavior Using or threatening violence Playing music too loud The misuse of fireworks Begging and antisocial drinking People dumping rubbish, fly tipping and abandoning cars People dealing and buying drugs on the street or alcohol abuse Rowdy and nuisance behavior Antisocial behavior policy and procedure of Merseyside Police I am discussing here the antisocial behavior police policy of Merseyside Police. Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England. Policy Statement The key priority of Merseyside Police is to tackle with any anti social behavior. We understand the effect of antisocial behavior on communities and individuals and we have researched different resources to deal with it. Merseyside has still higher level of antisocial behavior. So it becomes our priority to tackle with this serious issue and employ all possible resources to deal with this issue. To reduce this percentage, we will make short term, as well as long term, goals. Our objective is to provide the victim with support and security. Aims The aim of formulating this policy is to reduce and in long term eliminate anti social behaviors. The aim is also to identify the repeat victims and ensure that every safety measures must be used to support them. The policy is provided with procedures so that the application of policy becomes easier and there is a path to follow. Objective The objectives of this Policy is to Decrease the number of anti social behavior incidents Introduction of the system of analyze the victims’ condition Increase the satisfaction of community Create a system for the cooperation of different agencies Follow national guidelines Identify the groups who are engaged in anti social behaviors Application and Scope All police officers, staff and volunteers must know and follow the policies and procedures. Assistant Chief Constable is the Chief Officer and he is responsible for the operations. Outcome Evaluation Outcomes are the goals set or objectives and they should be checked on regular basis. The measurement of the results by the application of policy will be done by the Head of Area support and coordination Unit. Procedure The procedure of the Merseyside Police in handling any anti social behavior includes the following: Call handling The Merseyside police is following properly the National Contact Management strategy when attending calls from people caused by anti social behavior. Call handlers should seek all appropriate information. They must consider that if there is any previous call from the same location. If there is any response Action Plan. Call attainder should follow the anti social behavior standard operating procedure for immediate response. Deployment The newly created incident log will be transferred to the Relevant Area Control Room. It will be authorized by Dispatch officer. Actions taken at Scene When an incident is known of the anti social behavior, the attending officer will follow the principle of Y-GET OUT. According to this, service is provided to the victim as a response. The officer should make sure of the victims vulnerability. Assessing Vulnerability The vulnerability is assessed as the victim is supposed to be vulnerable if the incident leaves a bad effect on their quality of life. Adverse effect includes the risk of harm, mental or emotional well being, or inability to maintain normal routine activities. Ownership by the neighborhood The purpose of intervention of Merseyside police is to reduce vulnerability to lowest level and reducing and avoiding further crimes. The neighborhood teams also play an important role in the reduction of such crimes. Case management In a case where there is any victim identified at high risk then possible action must be taken to reduce this risk. Force governance The assistant chief constable is the leader of antisocial behavior. Performance must be measured and make sure that enough steps are taken for the actions needed. The creation of Police policy Police policy Anti social behavior creates clarity and avoid ambiguity in the practices of Police department. The policy makes standard for the staff. The aim of this policy is to ensure consistent approach to tackle all aspects of anti social behavior. The surveys showed that there are more cases recorded of anti social behaviors and police give high priority to these cases. The policing of anti social behavior includes meeting and interview with senior managers and collection of documents. Interviews were also taken in formulation of this policy. Effectiveness of Policy Police policy is significant in knowing that it tells the court that whether a police man is lawful in performing his duty. The policy is formulated by keeping in view the demands of the community. It is a great step towards minimizing the anti social behaviors. Steps taken to reduce anti social incidence are according to law. There is complete coordination of procedures in dealing with any anti social behavior incidence. There are evidences that clearly show that this policy is significant. During the period of April 2009 to March 2010 there have been 8478 fewer incidents of antisocial behaviors. The police is also trying that alcohol is not sold to under age people. Police patrols in parks and in open spaces to avoid nay incident. They are arranging meetings with the members of the community to make sure there is any concern to act upon. The police of Merseyside also reported that there is reduction in incidents in 2010 and police aims that they will work hard to continue this reduction. The police department is also providing information and directions to the public to avoid any crime related to anti social behavior. They are encouraging people to stand against anti social behavior. Conclusion The police policy of antisocial behavior is a significant policy and has a good effect on the level of crimes. This can be proved because no calls have been received from repeat victims since April 2010. Officers are keeping contact with victim to ensure the safety. There is 56% reduction in antisocial behavior calls reported as compared to September 2009 to September 2010. Positive feedback is received from the residents of the area. There were no drunken people caught from Derby park in summer holidays. This evidence can prove that the policy is effective. References Walker, S. (1977). A critical history of Police Reform: the emergency of professionalism, Lexington, MT: Lexington books. Neocleous, M. (2004). Fabricating Social order: A critical history of Police power, Pluto Press. Antisocial behavior policy and procedure. (January 2012). Merseyside police. 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